Overpowered
by ColdBlackCoat
Summary: It'd been a long road, but the crew of the Unreliable and their fearless captain had seen it through to the end. They'd dismantled the Boards hold on Halcyon and revived the Hope's passengers, securing a brighter future. But not all is what it seems, this future holds an all encompassing darkness that threatens to spread across the entire galaxy (OC's the Captain and Jen Fahlger)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Taking a hold

Jen Fahlger, first mate of the Unshakable, ran for her life.

They hadn't known what hit them, one minute her and her crew were enjoying their frozen dinners (you make due with what you have) and within the span of seconds their ship had gone dark. Loud sirens and blaring red warning lights ignited, and the ship's AI warned them that their hull had been breached.

Jen remembered the sound of someone screaming coming from up above and then, to her horror, the body of her captain fell from the top deck.

She remembered more of her crew falling around her, cut apart by an unseen foe as she fled to the escape pods.

"Deliveraaaaaaaance…" something hissed in her ear, and she turned and shot at it with her light pistol.

Whatever it was, it hissed in pain this time, but Jen didn't stay to finish it off, her instincts told her she had to get out.

As it had turned out, she'd made the right call.

Even more dark figures slithered from the darkness after her. They hissed and scrapped at the metal, anger emanating in their hushed voices as they chanted.

"Deliveraaance…. Deliveraaaance… Deliveraaaance…"

Jen finally reached the escape pods and smashed her fist against the door panel behind her. The automatic door slammed closed, locking out her pursuers. This only saved her a few seconds, however, for as soon as the creatures got to the door they rammed against it with abandon, denting the metal and slowly making it give way.

The last thing Jen remembered was screaming at the top of her lungs as the creatures finally made it through.

She jumped for the opened escape pod, but it seemed she was too slow. Something hard hit her in the back of her head with enough force to knock her out almost instantly...

**Hours later **

Jen woke up to the feel of a soft bed and faintest smell of Algae Lager.

She scrunched up her nose, not particularly fond of alcohol and its various odors, and turned on her side hoping to snuggle a little deeper under the covers.

The former first mate didn't remember having beds this comfortable on the Unshakable, her captain had refused to splurge on decent mattresses due to budget constraints but she had always suspected it had more to do with making sure his crew was never too comfortable.

"Wait" she said aloud, sitting up in the bed. "This… This isn't my ship" she felt a dull ache in the back of her head as she raked her brain to remember why she'd be on someone else's ship.

Jen leaned forward, but upon doing so the dull ache in her head from before grew into a full on migraine causing her to clutch at her skull in an attempt to stop it from feeling like it was going to split apart.

"Captain" a female voice said, "it would seem our 'guest' has woken up".

It was odd, Jen could tell it was obviously an AI speaking but for some reason it seemed… sassy.

"Thanks ADA" a deeper voice called in response, "I'll be down in a moment".

That must've been the captain of this vessel, Jen surmised, apparently he was used to the AI's attitude. It was weird though, she could've sworn he sounded familiar.

Jen heard heavy footsteps coming down the corridor to her room, and held her breath in anticipation for what was to come.

When the Captain had finally reached her door and looked inside her eyes widened to almost comical levels.

"Hey I-"

"OH MY LAW!"

Meanwhile, on the shattered remains of the Unshakable

"Sire, we've sent the girl away as you've aaaasked…."

"Hmm, so it seems" a deep, ominous voice replied.

"Will he really come? Does he dare to be so foolish as to challenge us?"

"He'll come" it said, "he can't resist playing the hero…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chap 2: Sawbones

Ellie had to admit, at least to herself, that her job was pretty damn sweet.

Sure there weren't many benefits, none at all really, and the pay was abysmal, almost nonexistent!

She also wasn't afforded much privacy in her small quarters as her space was usually invaded by her ever curious captain.

From an outsider's perspective, perhaps these sorts of drawbacks would make her usage of the word 'sweet' to describe her occupation a little questionable, but to her this job was perfectly tailored to her unique interests.

It'd been a year ago today that she'd re-joined the crew of the Unreliable after she'd been gone for three years on her own. There wasn't much point sticking around after they'd demolished the Board's hold on Halcyon, so she took her life insurance money and moved out, setting off on her own new adventures.

While she'd been doing fine for herself, the resident sawbones started to feel something that she'd thought would be an impossible emotion for someone with her worldly experience.

Loneliness.

Ellie couldn't deny that exploring alone had lost its luster after she'd been a part of what was now a legendary crew.

No one there to share in her accomplishments or toast to her victories after a hard fought battle, and so it all just felt so empty.

"What was the point?" She'd ask herself so many times, staring at a face in the mirror that was becoming more and more unrecognizable by the week.

Ellie pulled a face when she thought about it now, how pathetic she had felt on a particularly dreary day of adventuring.

It was on that day she was thinking of just retiring and leading the sort of life her parents had become accustomed to when he showed up.

The good doctor had never been a big believer in fate, but what were the odds of her meeting up with her former captain in the exact same place that she'd joined the crew to begin with?

So after having a few drinks and a lengthy discussion regarding the universe's current state of affairs, Ellie signed back on to the crew and the rest was history.

Ellie was broken from her musings when she heard someone shout from across the hallway. She was guessing their latest guest had just woken up from her catatatonic state owing to the fact that the voice was unfamiliar.

"Hmm, ADA?" the doctor queried after the ships AI.

"Yes?"

"I thought I asked you to warn me when the patient showed signs of stirring? The poor thing probably has a headache now."

"I did make an announcement, but it seems you were distracted" ADA replied, with the slightest bit of her signature attitude.

"You were staring at a photo of the captain very intensely when I tried to call for you at the time" the AI added, this time implication colored her tone, much to the doctors chagrin.

The slightest tint of pink crept onto the ship doctors cheeks, and she quickly turned to her wall-mounted computer and typed in a few commands to busy herself with.

"That'll be all ADA" she said in a hurried tone.

"Hmm" was all she got in reply before ADA shut off their communication.

'Suppose it's time I checked on my newest patient' Ellie thought to herself.

'And maybe do something about that meddling ship AI while I'm at it'.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 (re-write): Answers

Maximillion DeSoto sat alone at the only bar in the town of Edgewater, staring mutely into his mug.

His haggard countenance spoke volumes. Even at a glance, a passerby could clearly tell he was a man that was at the end of his rope.

It was odd for someone like Max, who was once considered the most well put together gentleman in all of Terra-2, to be looking so openly troubled. As he looked into his third steaming cup of coffee, he began to really try and piece together what had exactly happened to get him into his current predicament.

The first thing he remembered was bidding his captain farewell. It was a little hard to say goodbye to the man he'd risked his life for for over a year, but he had to find his own truth.

Max wanted to know the why and the how in a way that The Plan hadn't explained.

Even though The Plan had been a Board created hoax, it didn't mean there weren't a few good lessons to be learned from it.

And so, for the better part of the three years since the fall of the Board, the former Vicar searched the galaxy. He debated every learned scholar, read the most advanced literature and watched the turning of the tide on every beach as he stared off into the sunset of each new planet he visited in his quest.

He'd been relentless in his pursuits, for his thirst for knowledge was nigh unquenchable, and with each new locale he visited he left in a completely different standing than when he came in, though this was due to the populace either condemning or praising him for his curiosity.

And now, as he took one scalding sip from his mug, he felt as though he was no closer to the truth than he had been at the start of his journey.

As Max sat there and lamented his apparent failure he heard the familiar ding of the door to the bar being opened and turned his head instinctively to the sound.

In walked a fully armored man with a huge Tec-Hammer slung over one of his shoulders, he had an air of unmistakable confidence as he ordered a drink from the awestruck barkeep.

"Captain?!" Max said after a moment of staring in bewilderment, "Captain is that you?"

The man in question turned to him and, after receiving his drink and heartily clapping the barkeep on the shoulder in thanks, walked over to sit with his old friend.

"Yo" his former captain greeted as he sat down, "how's life?"

Max stared at the man again, but this time it was with a fierce determination.

"Let me rejoin your crew."

"Huh? But I thought you were trying to find your 'truth' though" the Captain responded, surprised at the sudden request. "Thought you'd be done with the whole adventuring thing."

"On the contrary Captain" Max answered, "I'm still pursuing my truth."

"Uhmm, Huh?" the Captain asked again, genuinely confused.

"I believe you hold the answer to my query, it's always been you. The one who was revived after hundreds of years, to take down a foe that was once thought to be insurmountable and save all of Halcyon from a life of endless servitude! There's no one else like you in all of the galaxy!"

"Dude, calm down folks are starting to stare…"

"Then let me rejoin the crew."

"Max I don't have any of the deep sophisticated answers you're looking for, and all the things you just gave me credit for weren't things I did all on my own" the Captain tried to explain exasperatedly.

But Max was nothing if not persistent, and in the end the two left the bar together as partners once again.

Now Max sat in his room on the Unreliable a few months later, sipping from a freshly brewed cup of steaming coffee while reading another of the novels he'd obtained during his three year long venture. He was partially startled from his calm revere when he heard a scream from down the hallway.

"That doesn't sound like anyone I've heard" he pondered, before standing up and shelving his book.

He grabbed a robe and hurriedly threw it on, tying it up at the front, he went to exit his room to investigate the source of the disturbance.

"It's time I started getting answers."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Mantle

The current captain of the Unreliable had given up his old name the day he crash landed in Edgewater, and accidently killed the former captain.

Perhaps if he were more poetic he'd have come up with some sort of versification for the transfer of responsibility and identity at the moment of him touching down on the plague-ridden land. The start of his journey to saving everyone he'd come to know having only begun at the cost of a man's life.

But the captain wasn't poetic, that sort of thing was Max's territory, his was adventuring with a touch of violence. Alright, maybe more than a touch if he were being completely honest.

And so, he didn't really have a name that he went by.

At first he answered to being called Hawthorne, but that was just to stay out of trouble due to his commandeering of the ship not actually being legal. He never actually considered taking the deceased man's name, especially after being sort of responsible for his death… it just felt so disrespectful.

Nowadays most people that recognized him called him either a "hero" or a demon. He'd answer either depending on who was in need of his unique skill set, though he never cared for it.

What really mattered to him was what his crew called him, what his friends knew him as.

Depending on which one he was talking to, it ranged from "Captain Sir" to simply "Dude".

It always lifted his mood to know that they viewed him as more of a human than he'd been feeling in all the years he'd been alive outside of the Hope's stasis pods. His augmentations had become particularly bothersome in the years following the defeat of the Board, and it was all thanks to Phineas.

Phineas Vernon Welles had managed to free and then, in saving his life, damn him.

From day one he felt his mind processing things at speeds he knew wasn't normal, he could slow down time temporarily if he pushed himself hard enough and only ever did so if he was in dire straights. His strength was also absurd, if he were being completely honest, and he could lift well over two-hundred kilos with relative ease. He was a dab hand when it came to cards too, but perhaps that was natural talent.

There were drawbacks, however, such as random spikes in aggression and worst of all (at least to him) the memory loss.

Life before the Hope was nothing more than a white smear. He couldn't remember his parents or if he had any siblings. He heard voices that sounded familiar at times when he was all alone, but he wasn't sure if they were from his past… or if they were a by product of his enhancements.

In light of his struggles, he never blamed Phineas.

The doctor HAD saved him, and in so doing, saved Halcyon. He was truly broken up when he'd heard of the doctors passing. The day he attended his savior's funeral was the first time he'd cried in years.

He'd lost a friend that day.

The captain swore to uphold Phineas' dream of a brighter future for all of mankind. One free of the corruption of corporate rule, a healthy civilization where everyone worked together to live, to thrive and to prosper.

Perhaps these idealism's made him some sort of a traditional hero in the eyes of the people who looked up to him, he never thought so since these were Phineas' aspirations and he was just adopting them in an attempt to carry on a legacy.

But it didn't matter, even now with most of his old crew gone and doing their own thing, he'd made great strides in keeping Phineas' dream a reality.

Edgewater and Terra-2, for example, were already seeing improvements in their quality of life. Thanks to the Hope's revived crew members making astonishing technological advancements, due in part to the materials he'd gathered on his missions to dangerous territories that were once restricted from access by the Board, things like the plague and food shortages had become nothing but a distant memory.

Thinking about one of those missions recently brought him back down to reality, and subsequently, to his current situation.

He was on his way back to Edgewater, with some new glowing space rocks he'd found on a huge meteor that was just outside of one of the unnamed new territories, when he saw the escape pod.

The thing was just floating there, and didn't seem damaged, so he pulled it into the Unreliable's cargo bay to see if he could salvage it.

It was a good thing he did too, since as soon as he popped the hatch an unconscious woman had fallen out and nearly collided with the floor before he thought to catch her. The captain immediately called for Ellie, and when she arrived the first thing she did was check the oxygen levels in the pod.

She hummed, something he noticed she did whenever she was stressed.

The sawbones had a look on her face that was none too pleased with what she saw. She hurried back over and instructed the captain to set the woman down so she could attempt resuscitation. "Get the AED" she commanded him as she started chest compressions, and he ran upstairs as fast as he could. He'd come back within five seconds, AED in hand, to the sight of Ellie stripping off the mystery woman's shirt.

"Hey, is she gonna be alright?" the captain asked worriedly, handing over the device.

He may not have known who the woman was, but he didn't want anyone dying on his watch if they weren't an enemy.

"I don't know yet" the doctor replied curtly, "clear out".

He knew not to question Ellie any further when she went full on sawbones-mode like this, and so he left to sit in his office.

About thirty minutes later, she'd called him back down to the cargo bay. He was greeted to the sight of the girl slowly breathing on her own when he got there.

"Well that's all I can do for now, she nearly ran out of oxygen by the time you dragged her pod in" the doctor explained, "you should probably get her into a bed, I imagine laying on the floor like this isn't comfortable".

"Hmm, right" the captain replied, picking up the unconscious woman in a bridal style. "She can use Nyoka's old bed" he said, moving to go upstairs with Ellie following behind.

"Nyoka's room? Kinda still reeks of cheap liquor dontcha think?"

The captain shrugged his shoulders the best he could with the woman still in his arms in and replied, "either there or Felix's old room, and you know even SAM won't go near that place."

Said cleaning robot was across the room, dusting off the old attribute re-aligner machine, when he heard mention of his name and the words "Felix" and "room" put together in the same sentence.

As an automechanical, SAM had no real way of knowing what fear was.

But that room? That room scared him…

The current captain and doctor of the ship hadn't noticed the big green cleaning machine shudder slightly before returning to work.

When the two had finally reached Nyoka's room the captain made sure to lie the woman on the bed gently before standing aside to let Ellie take another look at her.

"No fever, but she'll probably have a headache when she gets up" she surmised, "ADA?"

"Yes Ellie?" the ship AI answered a moment later.

"Will you warn me when the patient starts to stir?"

"Of course."

"Captain I need to have a word with you in the meantime."

"I'd figured, come on, we'll talk in my office" he said, already stepping out of the room.

When the two got to his office he took a moment to discard his helmet on the bed before sitting down in one of his rolling chairs. He kicked his feet up on his desk and got comfortable while simultaneously pushing out the chair adjacent to his for Ellie to sit in.

"Here take a load off" he offered, and waited for her to sit down. Oddly enough, the doctor was still standing there, staring at him with an open mouth. "Uh Ellie? Helooo?"

"Y-your… you…" she'd started stuttering, her face had colored quite a bit as well in the time she'd been standing there, causing the ship captain to become visibly concerned. This was fairly out of character for the usually composed doctor.

'Did she contract something from that lady we just brought in?!' he thought with a sudden alarm. He started to stand up when he heard Ellie whisper something he couldn't hear. "What was that?"

"I said… your helmet… you took your helmet off!" she all but yelled.

"Ah, so that's it…" he said, sitting back down. "Don't do that, you had me thinking you caught something" the captain admonished.

The doctor was adamant though, refusing to look away from his recently uncovered face. "You never take off your helmet! I have every right to be shocked!"

"Yeah well…" he started to respond, clearly a bit off put by the direction their supposedly serious conversation had just gone in, "usually I keep it on cause it helps with the mind stuff."

He was referring to his augmentations of course, something he really only ever spoke to Ellie about since she was the ship doctor, but not just because of that. They'd become quite close in the year since they'd reunited, to the point that he'd call her a friend in public and she didn't counter him with something snarky.

"I don't know, I guess your voice soothes me or something cause the aches are rarely around when you're nearby" he finished offhandedly.

Ellie still stood there after he was done with his explanation, her face was starting to take on the hue of her signature neck scarf.

"Ellie, you OK over there? You're kinda being more quiet than I'm used to."

"I've got t-to go uhmm… check on something, bye" she said hurriedly, almost sprinting out of the room.

"Huh" the captain said, "must have been important."

**A/N: **

**Woo! longest chapter yet! And just at the end of the year. Happy New years folks. **

**P.S. the Max character intro chapter was a little weak I might change it later. **

**P.S.S. Thanks for the review by the way I love those!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Brass Tacks

***present day***

After hearing the scream, both of the rejoined members of the Unreliable's crew ended up meeting in the center of the hallway just outside of Nyoka's old room.

"Mornin' Viccy!" Ellie greeted with a smirk.

"I thought I asked you to quit calling me that" Max sighed, rubbing at the creases on his brow. "I'm not even a Vicar anymore".

"Aw, but you'll always be Viccy to me…"

Deciding it was far too early in the morning to deal with Ellie's antics, the ex-Vicar decided to switch topics to preserve his sanity.

"Are you here to investigate that screaming?"

"You must mean our newest passenger, though I don't know why she'd be screaming..."

"New passenger? Just what the hell happened while I was sleeping?" Max queried. The last time he was caught this unawares he'd been sent to prison. Needless to say, he did not like being uninformed.

"Well maybe if you didn't take so many beauty naps-"

"Now see here!" Max interrupted, suddenly very irate, "I am NOT taking 'beauty' naps!"

"You're asleep for like eight hours a day!"

"That's the recommended amount of sleep for most healthy adults, which you'd know if you were a real doctor!"

"Hey!" Ellie shouted, clearly insulted by the accusation.

"I swear I can't leave you two alone for five minutes…" the Captain suddenly cut in, emerging from the room.

"Captain!" The two shipmates exclaimed in surprised unison.

"ADA, I found a name tag." he said, looking up towards the ceiling to address the ship's AI. "Look up a Jen Fahlger, First Mate of a ship called the Unshakable."

"Right away" ADA replied, going silent for a few seconds before turning back on with more information.

"Jen Fahlger, age: 26, eye color: blue, designated First Mate of the Unshakable. Last known location being Territory 6890" the AI listed off in an orderly fashion.

"Impossible, we found her escape pod in Territory 6888, she couldn't have gotten that far out…" the Captain whispered to himself.

"Something is seriously fishy here, try contacting the Unshakable" Ellie said.

"Attempting contact… error, the Unshakable's communication system is unresponsive. Captain, I am receiving a very weak distress signal that's 12 parsecs due northeast of our current location. Would you like me to alter our course to intercept?"

"Ah, now I see" the Captain said solemnly.

"See what?" Max said exasperatedly, "just what is going on?"

"Ah that's right, you were sleepin' when it all happened" the Captain said with a small smile.

"Well basically I dragged in a escape pod for salvage and this half dead chick fell out. Ellie revived her and now she's sleeping in Nyoka's old bunk. She woke up a couple minutes ago and when I went to check on her she screamed something about the Law at me and passed out again" the Captain explained.

"Oh…" Max said simply, taking in the new wealth of info.

"Wait she passed out again? You should've said so earlier!" Ellie exclaimed, pushing past the captain to check on her patient.

"Uh… my bad" he apologized awkwardly, "I was coming to get ya."

"You know now that I think about it, I believe I've been on the Unshakable before" Max said, after Ellie had shut Nyoka's door behind her.

"I believe it's a trade ship that's fashioned itself to copy the dogma of its predecessor."

"It's predecessor?"

Max smiled a little and pointed down towards the floor, the indication being clear. "That's right captain".

"Oh you have got to be kidding me" the Captain groaned, "not this hero crap again."

"Well I like it" ADA cut in, "It's about time I got some recognition."

"That's right ADA" Max put in again, " you, the Captain and everyone on this ship that worked together to bring an end to the Board's tyranny deserve to be hailed as heroes."

"I don't know why he chooses to still run away from such a prodigious and well earned honor."

"It was never about the fame for me, Max, I'm just trying to do what I think is the right thing," the Captain said, "and anyway, we're getting away from the matter at hand. ADA go ahead and alter our course to intercept that distress signal you picked up. Max you're gonna wanna get suited up for a fight."

That last order took Max by surprise.

"Why? I just got through explaining that the people on that ship idolize us."

"Trust me Max, whoever's on that ship now is no fan of mine" the Captain replied cryptically.

The ex-Vicar could only stare after his ship captain in bewilderment as the man in question left to go to his quarters upstairs, presumably to get suited up himself.

"It might take a lifetime to figure out what goes through that man's mind" Max muttered to himself.

***Meanwhile, in Nyoka's room***

Ellie was staring inquisitively at her newest patient, while she was still very much unconscious it was almost as if she was still telling the young ship doctor all she needed to know on how to treat her.

She did so through her injuries, as there were multiple to account for now that the doctor had a closer look at her. While Ellie wasn't a licensed physician (as the former Vicar had so in-eloquently pointed out in the hallway) she was by no means inapt in the arts of reading wounds as though they were story books.

And boy, did this girl have a story to tell.

Bruising around the rib cage and face told of a struggle, as well as what looked like long sharp claw marks adorning the back of her neck.

'Was she attacked by an animal?' Ellie could only wonder as she observed her patient further, turning the woman's head to the side to get a closer look at the injury. After she did so she gasped in astonishment.

The hair on the back of her head was matted down with fresh blood.

Ellie grit her teeth, she knew something like this could be a possibility when she heard that this woman (Jen Fahgler if she had heard the captain correctly through the door) had fainted again only a short while after waking up again.

Brain damage, it had to be, why hadn't she checked sooner?

'Stupid!' the doctor berated herself, quickly reaching for her med kit. 'I can only hope I'm not too late!'

Ellie took out a sphere that looked as though it were made completely out of chrome and, with a practiced flick, cracked it like an egg over Jen's face. A yellowish glow emitted from the device, quickly enveloping the unconscious patient's head.

"Multiple skull fractures and internal damage detected, attempt recovery?" the outer shell of the EggHead device asked Ellie with a robotic cadence.

"Yes" Ellie commanded.

"Warning, use of this EggHead unit to perform such a complicated surgery will destroy the EggHead unit. Proceed anyway?"

"Yes! Please hurry!" Ellie yelled frantically, knowing full well that EggHead's didn't come cheap. It didn't matter to her, though, since she felt she was partly responsible for not treating her patient properly.

"Warning, diagnostics indicate a 39.787% chance of successful recovery. This is below the galactic average, sensors indicate that the nearest emergency hospice is-"

"Enough! The Emergency Authorization Code is Zhora's Dancing!"

"Emergency Authorization Code acknowledged. Beginning procedure in 3… 2… 1…"

Ellie bit into her nail as she watched the biotic field change shape around the woman's skull, and could only pray she wasn't too late.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Off Course

x-x

It was hard to tell the difference between day and night in the depths of space.

Perhaps there wasn't one, the captain thought as he walked down the hallway of his ship toward the kitchen area, but his body knew when it was in need of a late night snack.

As he entered the kitchen he spotted Ellie, she sat all alone at the table with a cup of hot chocolate in front of her. He could tell from the lack of steam that it had likely gone cold.

"Ellie… How're ya feeling?" the Captain queried as he sat down across from the ship doctor, his nocturnal cravings momentarily forgotten.

He didn't get much of a response at first, but then what did he expect? The sawbones had been in Nyoka's room all day trying to save Jen Fahlger's life.

Ellie mutely nodded her head, but he couldn't tell if it was in response to his question or if she was answering one of her own.

"Ellie" the Captain tried again, this time he took off his gloves and placed his hand over hers. "Talk to me" he said.

This seemed to finally shake Ellie from her stupor, her eyes seemed to clear as she looked down at her hand being covered by her captain's. She gulped before intertwining their fingers, the warmth from his hand alone calming her frayed nerves.

"Y-yeah" she croaked, "just a close call".

"So she's healed then?"

"Well… no" Ellie answered with a slight frown, taking her hand away from him. She took a sip from her cup and grimaced at the cooled liquid.

"We need to get her to an actual hospital immediately" she continued, "there's… nothing more I can do for her now."

"I see, well-"

"I'm so stupid!" Ellie suddenly yelled, standing up so suddenly that she knocked over her cup in the process. She started to pace back and forth in the small kitchen area, "I can't believe I did that! I could've gotten her killed!"

"Uhm…" the Captain stuttered, unable to form a response in time.

Ellie stopped abruptly and looked directly at the Captain with a fierce enough expression that it actually managed to unnerve him.

"Are you going to get rid of me?" she asked quietly.

"What?!" the Captain sputtered, completely taken aback. He'd never seen this side of Ellie before, it was like she was a completely different person.

"Why would you even ask that?"

Ellie looked down in response, licking lips that suddenly felt a little too dry.

A couple of minutes passed without her saying anything until she finally just shrugged her shoulders, from the the captain's point of view she seemed completely defeated.

The Captain decided that it was time to take action and stood up, but not before removing his helmet.

He could tell that Ellie had heard the sound of his chair moving back from the way her ears perked up, but she was still looking to the floor when he approached her.

"Ellie, look at me" he tried, but she refused to look up at him. She chose to bite into her lower lip instead in obvious frustration.

The Captain hooked a finger under her chin and lightly brought her head up so he could look into her eyes.

Ellie's teeth let go of her lower lip as she gasped, apparently surprised that the Captain had once again unmasked himself just to speak to her.

"I've been accused a lot of things over the years since I've been revived" he started, his eyes not once straying from Ellie's.

"Most of them I'll admit aren't entirely off the mark, and you know I don't care what people think of me overall but… I'd never abandon my crew. Not ever."

Ellie's breath hitched, she'd never been this close to the Captain before, had never seen his eyes this closely. They were so focused and intense, she felt that all she could do was nod silently under their scrutiny.

The Captain, satisfied with her response, finally leaned away from her. He smiled as he slapped her on the back affectionately, and she stumbled forward a bit at the unintentional strength put behind the blow.

"Don't be so down on yourself Ellie, it's not like you at all!" he laughed, and she couldn't help but join in after a few moments, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Yeah yeah, I get it but it's just like… man, I almost messed up real bad ya know?"

"Oh we all make mistakes Ellie, as a matter of fact I… uh well, let's just say we were gonna have to take a detour anyways so dropping this Fahlger lady off at a hospital won't be a problem."

"Hmm? So we're not heading towards the Unbreakable right now? What happened?"

"It's not that big of a deal, it's just that-"

"I believe I can be of some assistance here" ADA suddenly cut into the conversation. "Replaying recording from four hours and fifty-two minutes ago in-"

"ADA there's really no need to-"

"3... 2… 1…"

***Earlier that day* **

"Captain may I have a word with you?" ADA asked over the ship intercom.

"Sure ADA, whatsup?" the Captain shouted back.

"Alone?" ADA said, indicating that he needed to head up to the captains quarters so that she could privately speak to him.

Normally, the ship AI only ever requested a private meeting with the Captain when she needed to talk about captain Hawthorne or a previous mission's results.

On occasion, the Captain had messed up something badly enough that she just straight up felt the need to yell at him for it.

Guess which one happened more often that not?

And so, with great trepidation, the captain made his way up to his room.

"So what'd I do this time?" he asked as he sat down, hoping to get this over with as fast as possible.

The ship AI had other plans though, choosing to let an awkward silence take over the room as she slowly closed the door using her control over the ship. The silence stretched on for exactly four minutes before she spoke again.

"Captain…" she started, a firmness in her tone indicated what the Captain already knew.

He'd really stepped in it this time.

"How did you pull the escape pod into the ship?" she finished.

"Huh? Oh! I used the Mini-Trac. You know, that tractor beam the scientists on the HOPE gifted me last year."

"I see" ADA said in response before going silent once more.

This odd interaction was starting to get on the Captain's nerves, and he decided to take charge of the confrontation.

"ADA what's the about? Are you mad at me for bringing something on board the ship again? It's kinda my job to collect space junk these days y'know. And I'm the damn Captain! I don't need your permission to-"

"That's not what I'm concerned about Captain, but thank you for updating me on what my parameters are, I'll be sure to add that to my data banks and act accordingly in the future." The AI said sarcastically, cutting the Captain off mid-rant.

"Damn it" he swore, regret etched across his face. It always went like this whenever ADA reprimanded him, she'd make him lose his cool and he'd say something that made him feel like an ass later on. "You know I didn't mean it like that ADA, I don't like pulling rank on people."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a person then, isn't it?"

"ADA!"

"Let's move on shall we?" ADA spoke again, leaving the Captain seething.

"When you used the Mini-Trac" she continued, "what did you use to power it?"

"Huh? Oh well I… uh..."

"Captain" she said, prompting him to continue.

"Look, you know I hate using those frickin huge batteries! They're super complicated!" the Captain whined. "Hooking them up takes like five minutes, per battery! And the fact that I need to install them to drag something in and then install a second set just to make the damn thing let go of the cargo-"

"So instead of using the batteries to charge the tractor beam, you decided to draw power straight from the ship?!" ADA finally yelled at him, losing whatever semblance of patience she had with the man at that point. "Do you have ANY idea how much power it takes to CHARGE that machine?!"

"H-how much?" the Captain asked feebly, shrinking in on himself under the intense scrutiny of his ship AI.

"It takes enough power to eat though into our AUXILIARIES!" she screamed, "I hadn't even noticed until you asked me to change course because of the sheer amount of- ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!"

The Captain gulped, he'd never seen her this mad before and he didn't know how to deal with her in this state. He prayed staying calm would have some effect on her, he'd read in one of the books that Max had lent him that staying calm was essential in situations like this.

"I'm listening, ADA, just… let's think this through, yeah? How much power do we have left? Can we make it to a charging station?"

"...Yes" she said after a couple of moments. "But I'll need to change our course, AGAIN."

"Ok, let's do that. And I'm sorry for the trouble, I'll make it up to you" he promised.

"Hmph."

**End of recording **

***Present Day* **

Ellie was in tears laughing, it was to the point that she had to hold on to her sides.

"Well I'm glad you found that funny…" the Captain said dejectedly.

"I had a near death experience y'know! She was _this_ close to just offing me, where's my sympathy?!" he pouted.

He only to received even louder laughter in response.

x-x

A/N: Sorry for being slow on updates to the story, and thanks for the follows and favorites!

A/N: Also re-wrote chapter 3! check it out.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Crashing

Aboard the shattered remains of the Unshakeable

"**Interesting.**"

"What is it, my lord?"

"**His ship is taking… much longer than you said it would, squire.**"

The squire automatically started to panic, "p-perhaps he's having difficulties with his-"

The dark figure held up their hand in a placating matter "**you needn't explain your failures to me, however, you'll be the one to deal with our newest member. She won't be as understanding." **

At that very moment someone else stepped into the room, coming into the light of a single bulb that offered the rooms only illumination.

This one wore a robe that obscured most of their figure but, from the way the fabric curved around their frame, it was obvious that they were female.

"How much longer?!" the newcomer spat impatiently, "I need my vengeance NOW!"

"You will watch your tone when addressing our lord!" the squire screamed in her face.

The next thing he knew he was in her grasp, suspended two feet off of the ground and barely able to breathe.

"You've lied to me for the last time" she said, her hands forming an ever tightening seal around the tinier man's neck "if he's not here in the next five minutes I'll-"

"**I've grown bored of this little altercation already. Release him and come here, I have… instructions for you.**"

She complied immediately, dropping the squire on his face and pacing towards her new master. When she got in front of the makeshift throne she took a moment to awkwardly bow.

"**Hmph, not very good at this now are you?**"

"I've never been subservient to anyone before…"

"**It matters not, I'm not one to stand on ceremony nor am I someone who has all of the time in the galaxy to settle old scores.**"

At this the woman's mood immediately shifted and she took a defensive stance.

"What?! We had an agreement!"

"**Calm yourself and listen to me, as I said I may not have the time but **_**you**_ **certainly do. I will leave you here to deal with **_**him**_ **while I take care of other matters.**"

"And after I kill him? How will I get out of here?"

"**Come closer**."

She obeyed, stepping up to the foot of her master's throne and looking up towards them. A huge hand suddenly engulfed her head, giving off an oddly warm sensation that seemed to flow throughout her entire body.

"**I will add on to the power I've already granted you in order to ensure your survival. With this, you'd better not fail me.**"

She stepped away when her master removed their hand and looked down at her own hands in utter astonishment.

"So much _power_…" she muttered to herself.

"**Quite**."

"My lord" the squire spoke up, though his voice was a bit strained after his earlier choking. "My sensors have detected a ship coming within range. I suspect that it's _him_."

"**Then we're off. Squire open the portal, I'm behind schedule.**"

The squire bowed deeply and said "at once my liege" before waving his hands frantically behind him in seemingly random patterns.

A large oval shaped portal appeared a moment later, it's soft white glow was otherworldly within the confines of the dilapidated ship.

Without another word, both lord and squire stepped through it and disappeared to destinations unknown.

Aboard the severely powered down Unreliable

Max walked through the hallways of the Unreliable with his cup of steaming black coffee clutched in his fist. It was difficult procuring the heat needed to make this one cup, what with their current predicament concerning the power, so it was of the utmost importance that he got to work finishing it before it got cold.

The former Vicar would've liked to sit down and enjoy it, but he was met with a rather mysterious query upon entering the kitchen area. A large dark stain covered the kitchen table and, after closer inspection, he discovered it to be the remnants of a spilled hot chocolate.

That was Ellie's favorite drink…

Max counted himself lucky that he'd found this when he did because moments later he heard the distinct clomping of SAM's huge metal legs making his way into the room. As soon as the re-purposed cleaning bot saw the mess he immediately went to clean it up, rudely pushing Max aside in the process .

Startled, Max nearly dropped his precious coffee but was able to grab unto the counter to balance himself at the last moment.

"Damned scrapheap!"

"Another satisfied customer!" SAM said, picking up his supplies and going about his normal cleaning subroutines.

Max looked after the retreating form of the auto mechanical and then back to the now spotless table. He scratched at his chin with his free hand and, feeling the stubble prickling his fingers, decided his next course of action.

"I'll get down to the bottom of this… after a quick shave."

After about an hour of morning preparations, most of the crew of the Unreliable had gathered in the kitchen area.

The Captain had gotten into another heated argument with ADA about the power again before leaving for his quarters, SAM was in the engine room dusting off the various pieces of machinery and Jen Fahlgar was still unconscious in Nyoka's room.

This left Ellie, who had procured another cup of hot chocolate, and Max sitting across from each other.

The former Vicar had more or less figured out that something had happened in the kitchen last night based entirely off of the behavior of his fellow crew mates. For one, Ellie hadn't tried to speak to anyone so far and, although that wasn't entirely unusual for her, the way she had awkwardly stared at the Captain the entire time gave him the impression that the two may have had a serious moment.

'Hmm, this certainly warrants further investigation' Max thought to himself. He wasn't usually so prone to eavesdropping, but he was fairly certain he was completely out of the loop as of late so any scrap of information he could gather was important.

Before he could even begin to ask Ellie anything, however, the ship started to shake.

It started off lightly but turned into a full on rocking motion that knocked Ellie and Max out of their chairs. Max quickly got to his feet and soon after heard the distinct sound of an alarm sounding somewhere in the ship.

He looked at Ellie, who was equally as confused, and asked if she was alright.

She nodded but held her hand up to her forehead, "the hell even was that…"

"All hands on deck!" they heard the Captain yelling.

"Get your armor on! We're getting pulled in by a big ugly ship with a tractor beam and we don't have the power to thrust ourselves out!"

"Prepare for impact!"


	8. Chapter 8 (part 1)

Chapter 8: Old scores (part 1)

Jen Fahlger awoke for the second time to the sound of a reverberating bang, followed shortly after by an alarm that sounded really close.

She tentatively sat up, this time fully aware of the fact that she'd probably sustained some sort of head injury. She felt a little faint, but she resolved herself to power through it and got up. As she swung her feet off of the bunk to stand, she realized that her body was incredibly stiff all the way up to her neck.

Jen took a moment to sort herself out, stretching and popping joints as needed. Once she felt confident enough she attempted to finally stand and, much to her relief, found it to be a much easier task than she thought it'd be.

"Alright so…" she started to say, but stopped when she heard someone shouting.

Realizing it was the voice of the man she heard before passing out, Jen paced over to the door and pressed her ear up against it in order to hear him a little better.

She thought she heard him saying something about preparing for impact but she wasn't too sure.

It would be just her luck that she woke up in a ship that was about to crash.

The former first mate tried to get the door open, but it was sealed shut. She wondered briefly if she was being held prisoner but reconsidered based on the fact that she wasn't being restrained in any way.

As she contemplated what to do next, she heard heavy footsteps behind her and felt a familiar chill creep up her spine when a pair of cold hands closed around her neck.

"Oh... how disappointing…"

X-x

***Aboard the Unshakable***

The sound of a heavy lever being pulled back was followed by a low sinister chuckle.

A woman, wearing a long black cloak with a hood obscuring most of her face, stepped back from the tractor beam controls with a smile on her face. To her relief it seemed that the Unreliable was able to stabilize itself just moments before crashing into the Unshakable's hull.

"Oh no, you're not dying that easily 'Hero'. You've got a lot to atone for…"

X-x

***Back on the Unreliable***

"Oh, we slowed down?" the Captain asked, shocked at how abruptly the huge ship stopped drawing them in. "ADA can we uh…"

"If you're about to ask me if we have enough power to boost ourselves away the answer is no" the AI responded, with no small amount of venom in her tone. "We're very lucky that whoever's doing this didn't decide to just kill us outright."

"Well then… I guess that only leaves us with one option" the Captain said, and when he only received a small 'hmph' in acknowledgement he decided it was time to get moving.

Grabbing the small microphone on his desk that was hooked to the speakers that lined the interior of the Unreliable, he began to check on the statuses of his crew members.

"Is everyone alright?" he said into the mic. After he received a positive response from down below, the Captain decided to start issuing his orders.

"Ellie please go to check on our 'guest', make sure she didn't get hurt by that whole fiasco. Then I'm gonna need you to suit up, you're going in with me. Same goes for you Max, we'll probably need your expertise hacking into this ships system."

After receiving an affirmative from both parties he hung up the mic and turned back to ADA. "I'm going to get changed now."

"By all means" the ship AI replied "your mini-gun should still be inside of your oddly spacious chest."

"Thanks, do you mind opening up the engine room? I have an idea on how to squeeze out a little more power."

"Sure."

"Uh… ADA?"

"Yes Captain?"

"We… are we cool?"

It took a moment for her to reply, but when she did she sighed resignedly and said "if you can get us out of this mess I'll consider us 'cool'."

"Hmm, alright you got it."

An awkward beat of silence followed the short exchange and was broken again by the Captain shifting on the spot. "You know I'm going to need some privacy when I'm changing ADA…"

"Of course Captain."

The Captain assumed this meant his ship AI had turned her surveillance systems off in his room for the time being and proceeded to strip.

He assumed incorrectly.


End file.
